A new begining
by Lerith Everclear
Summary: *FINISHED*Darla finds something unexpected in NYC


"So tell me little man, who killed the slayer?" Darla purred while she leaned over the short balding man.  
  
"I'm...I'm not too sure, miss." he replied.  
  
"please Willy, call me Darla." She said with little interest. "I really don't care what this little creep calls me" she thought to herself. She had thought returning to Sunnydale might have been a problem with the slayer here, but at the same time she thought the challenge might be fun too. What better way to get back at Angel for humiliating her, then killing his one true love? She ran her fingers threw her blonde hair and sighed as she turned back to Willy.  
  
"Now tell me who killed her." she demanded firmly as she let her demonic visage slip over her statuesque features. Willy pushed the chair he was tied to away from her as he shrieked.  
  
"What a beauty" he thought when Darla strode threw the door a little after closing. Then she tied him to his office chair.  
  
"I really don't know." he sniveled. "There's a lot of speculation. No ones to sure."  
  
"That really is too bad for you Willy." Darla sighed. "Cause I really can't have you spilling your guts to any of her little friends that I'm back in town."  
  
W...w...what are you gonna do?" he asked, fear leaking into his voice.  
  
"Kill you of course." She chuckled. She could smell the terror rolling off of him. She slinked closer to him. He started to whimper and tremble as she sank her fangs into his neck.  
  
* * *  
  
Sasha Coburn bolted up right in her bed, cold sweat trickling down her back. She'd been having these weird dreams for almost a month now. A blonde girl about the same age as her, wearing a white dress, wandering threw a sewer or something, and then the monster came, he bit her, and she died. The scene changed. An attractive african girl dressed in baggy clothes, blood gushing from her throat, a raven tressed woman standing over her grinning. A dark haired girl in leather falling from a building, and then the same girl behind bars. The images haunted her. Her schoolwork was suffering. She glanced at the clock it was three AM and she had to be up soon. She ran her fingers threw her thick red hair, laid back and tried to sleep.  
  
  
  
* * *  
  
Spike stopped humming when he stepped into his mausoleum. She sat on the stone slab, back to the door. Blonde hair tumbled over delicate pale shoulders. A short red shirt exposed the curve at the small of her back. The Black leather hugged her slim hips.  
  
"Buffy?" He whispered.  
  
"William, dear boy, I'm hurt." Darla cooed as she turned around. "I hoped you'd recognize me."  
  
"Bloody hell Darla what are you doing here?" He demanded as he dropped his bag. The container inside broke with the impact. A thick crimson pool formed at his feet. "Waiting for you" she sniffed the air. "Really William, pig?" She raised a perfect eyebrow.  
  
"What are you doin' here Darla. I got a pretty good feeling it's not to review my dinner, that now thanks to you is all over my freshly swept floor." Spike said.  
  
"William the bloody, doing house work and drinking the blood of farm animals." Darla giggled. "Now I've seen everything. Dru was right, you've gone soft."  
  
Spike gritted his teeth.  
  
"Why are you here." Spike snarled, his patience exhausted.  
  
"I thought we could reminisce about old times." She shrugged.  
  
"No thanks." Spike replied.  
  
"Fine" Darla sighed. "Then why don't you tell me who killed the slayer."  
  
"What do you care?" Spike glared at her.  
  
"Really I don't, I'd just like to congratulate the lucky party." She said.  
  
"If you must know the slayer killed the slayer." He answered coldly.  
  
"There's another slayer?" Darla asked surprised.  
  
"No" He answered. Darla stifled a laugh.  
  
"You mean to tell me Angel's little girl couldn't hack the life of a slayer and killed herself?" Darla asked giggling.  
  
"NO!!! Wasn't like that at all. She did it to save her friends I'll have you know." He corrected. Darla rolled her eyes.  
  
"How disappointing." She pouted. "I'll be going now William, nice seeing you again." Darla said. She rose from the stone slab and sauntered into the night. Spike looked after her.  
  
"Odd girl that one" he said to himself.  
  
* * *  
  
It was the blonde girl from the tunnel with the monster. This time her lifeless body lay at the foot of the skeletal frame of a building, people gathered around, crying, mourning her loss. And then a voice, like the wind blowing threw her mind said: Slayer.  
  
"Ms. Coburn?" She heard. "Is there a problem Ms. Coburn?"  
  
"Um...what? Oh um no." Sasha said as the images cleared from her head.  
  
"Then perhaps you'd like to join the rest of the class and open your text book to page fifty three." Her English teacher said.  
  
"Right, sorry." she said. The entire class was watching her, she could feel their eyes on her, feel the blood rush to her face. She quickly opened her book and hid behind it. The bell rang. Sasha quickly scooped up her things and hurried from the room. The Hallway was crowed with other students rushing to lunch. Sasha waited for the halls to clear before she slumped against a wall.  
  
"What's happening to me?" she whispered to herself. The image of that blonde girl still hung in her head every time she closed her eyes.  
  
"Hey Sash, you ok?" A familiar voice asked. Sasha opened her eyes, to see a pair of combat boots, her glaze flicked up past the red plaid hip- huggers and black velvet shirt. "Oh hi Gwen" Sasha said without much enthusiasm. Gwen tossed her long violet hair over her shoulder and slid down the wall beside Sasha.  
  
"You look like someone ate your puppy. Wanna talk about it?" Gwen asked. "I just haven't been sleeping well lately." Sasha replied.  
  
"You sure your all right?" Gwen pried.  
  
"What happened to your your hair?" Sasha asked.  
  
"It's the next shade in the colors not found in nature collection. You like?" Gwen asked.  
  
"It's much better then the flamingo pink it was last week." Sasha said.  
  
"Well at least your not flunking subject changing 101." Gwen said.  
  
"I've just been having these really weird dreams lately." Sasha replied.  
  
"Ooook. Well you can tell me all about them on the way to the caf. This linoleum is sucking all the warmth out of my body threw my butt." Gwen said as she stood up. She looked down at Sasha expectantly. Sasha stretched and stood up. Gwen grabbed her hand and started down the hall to the cafeteria.  
  
* * *  
  
The train swayed from side to side, Darla was decidedly unhappy about her current mode of transportation. Sitting in her compartment, she sighed.  
  
"If I had known he was so broke, I would have tortured Willy more before I killed him." She grumbled. When the train hit a bump and she smacked her head on the shelf above her, she decided she had had enough.  
  
"Next stop, I'm out of here." she muttered. The hours past slowly, by the time the train came to a stop at the station in Chicago, Darla had killed a porter and an overly rude woman who loudly expressed her disapproval of the wait for the bathroom outside the door to Darla's compartment. The breaks squealed and Darla was on her feet and at the exit door before the train came to a complete stop. The doors opened to reveal a man in a conductor's uniform standing on the platform below. Darla hurried down the steps. "Thank you for traveling..." the man began.  
  
"Shut up" Darla snarled as she walked past him. She slid her sunglasses over her hazel eyes, and pulled her long coat tighter around her. She walked threw the train station to the street and hailed a cab. The cold Chicago winds buffeted her as she waited for the car to stop. Darla flung the door open, and slid into the cab.  
  
"New York City" she demanded as the driver turned to her.  
  
"Hey lady, you got any idea how far New York City is from here?" the driver asked.  
  
"Do I care?" She asked as she lowered her sunglasses. "I'll make it worth it, I promise." She licked her lip and slipped out of her coat. The driver watched her with great interest. He swallowed hard.  
  
"NYC it is" he said. He turned around and started the car.  
  
"Good, wake me when we get there" Darla purred. She laid across the back seat and pulled her coat over her head and drifted off to sleep.  
  
* * *  
  
"Wow, you weren't kidding when you said weird dreams." Gwen said.  
  
"Tell me about it." Sasha replied  
  
"And you don't know any of the girls in your dreams?" Gwen said between sips of her milk.  
  
"Not a one. The past week it's been those same three over and over again, but before it was so many different girls, and they were dressed so drastically different at times." Sasha said shaking the images out of her head.  
  
"Maybe your going nuts." Gwen suggested.  
  
"Well that's certainly reassuring." Sasha sighed. She looked down at her lunch tray and decided that today's mystery entree was no long appetizing. She pushed it towards the middle of the table and looked up.  
  
"Are we still on for this Friday?" Gwen asked.  
  
"Friday?" Sasha looked at her blankly.  
  
"Yeah Friday, you know going out dancing and having fun." Gwen said.  
  
"I don't know..." Sasha started  
  
"You promised." Gwen whined. Sasha nodded with a sigh. A loud club wasn't the first place she'd go with sleep deprivation, but if she bailed Gwen wouldn't let her hear the end of it.  
  
"YAY!!!" Gwen cheered as the bell rang. The crowed cafeteria cleared quickly. The girls walked down the hall side by side, ignoring the occasional muttered insult from one of the school's less colorful students.  
  
"Well this is me." Gwen said stopping outside of her biology class "Talk to you after school."  
  
Sasha nodded and walked to the girl's locker room. She quickly changed and ran into the gym, not waiting to be late for Mr. Beckett's judo class.  
  
* * *  
  
Darla did her best to ignore the driver on their cross-country trek. When she got in the cab back in Chicago she knew she'd end up killing him after she'd gotten where she needed to go. After 3 days in the car with him, she was looking forward to tearing out his throat. It was a little after sunset and they had been stuck in traffic on the George Washington Bridge for about 2 hours now. He hadn't shut his mouth once in those two hours. Stopping to let him sleep was an inconvenience she'd endured. His trying to cop a feel while she slept, she over looked. His constant babbling drove her over the edge.  
  
"Pull over here!" She snarled.  
  
"Are you sure you want to stop now? We're really close" He asked.  
  
"YES!!!" she shouted. He steered the car threw the dense traffic to the side of the bridge. As soon as the car stopped Darla threw open the door a leapt out. She started to walk towards the city when she heard the door open. She felt a strong hand close over her arm. Darla whirled around to face her driver.  
  
"Where do you think your going honey?" He asked her.  
  
"Away from you." She said simply.  
  
"But darlin' there's still the matter of what you owe me." He said. He looked her up and down.  
  
"Send me a bill." she shrugged his hand off. He backhanded her. She rolled with the blow and when she turned back on him her face had morphed into her true visage. "You really shouldn't have done that" She snarled and leapt at him, over powering him easily. Darla stood up and licked the blood from her lips. Her face slowly changed back to it normally flawless features. Darla had walked a couple of miles down the road when a large truck pulled up beside her. A man in an old cowboy hat leaned over.  
  
"Need a ride little lady?" he asked her. Darla paused a minute before she pulled open the door and climbed into the truck. The truck pulled back into traffic.  
  
* * *  
  
Sasha was home alone again. It wasn't anything unusual; her dad had a very active social life since her mom had left, never to be heard from again. There was a knock on the apartment door. She sighed as she put down her book and walked to the door. She threw it open as far as the security chain would let her. A man in his mid thirties wearing a grey three-piece suit stood in the hall.  
  
"Can I help you?" Sasha asked.  
  
"Um yes your Ms. Coburn?" He asked in a thick english accent.  
  
"Yes, but I don't need a vacuum, or an encyclopedia, and I'm happy with my current religion thank you." Sasha said and closed the door. He knocked again. She threw open the door and the chain broke.  
  
"What?" She asked.  
  
"I have some information for you, may I come in?" He asked.  
  
"Information about what?" She asked narrowing her eyes.  
  
"About your destiny." He replied matter of factly. Sasha sighed and rolled her eyes.  
  
"I said I was happy with my religion. Go away." She said and started to close the door.  
  
"You've started to have the dreams haven't you?" He called as the door closed. Sasha stopped and opened the door again.  
  
"What did you say?" She asked, her voice trembling.  
  
"The dreams about the girls, the ones fighting the monsters." he said.  
  
"How did you know that?" She asked.  
  
"Can I come in?" he asked.  
  
"No, first tell me what you think you know." She said her eyes narrowing.  
  
"I know quite a bit. I am not however going to stand here in the hallway and relay it to you." He said. She sighed and opened the door.  
  
* * *  
  
He stepped into his office, slammed the door and slumped against it. Even here 10 stories above the street he couldn't escape the nouveau riche and hangers-on he'd come to detest.  
  
"Having a problem?" he heard a voice from his past purr, as the chair behind the desk swiveled around to face him. She was as beautiful today as she was two centuries ago when they'd first met.  
  
"Armani looks good on you." Darla said as she stood and walked from behind the desk her heels clicking across the hard marble floor.  
  
"Cat got your tongue?" She asked. As she looked up, her eyes focusing on his.  
  
"Darla. I heard Angelus destroyed you." He said.  
  
"You shouldn't believe ever thing you hear, dear boy." Darla said as she sat on the hard wood desk.  
  
"What are doing here in New York?" He asked her, eyes narrowing. New York was his, and he'd stake her with the heel of her own shoe before he'd let her take it from him.  
  
"Don't worry Charles, I'm only passing through." She answered.  
  
"How long will you be staying?" He asked.  
  
"A week maybe two." She said dismissively. "So tell me what's there to do around here on a Friday night?"  
  
  
  
* * *  
  
"So your telling me that I've been "chosen" to fight a one person war against evil?" Sasha asked speculatively as she leaned back on the couch.  
  
"Yes that's exactly what I'm telling you." He said.  
  
"Do the people at the mental ward know your here Mr....?" She replied.  
  
"Winchester, Eric Winchester." He replied. "And I'm not insane, I'm your watcher."  
  
"You are aware that stalking is illegal in all fifty states?" Sasha asked as she stood and walked to the door.  
  
"You'll understand in time. Meet at this address tomorrow after school." He said.  
  
"No. Even if I believed one word of what you said, which I don't, I have plans tomorrow."  
  
"No? What do you mean no?" he asked.  
  
"I mean no. I already made plans with my friend Gwen." Sasha said. "Now you better get out of here before my dad gets home." Eric rose and headed for the door. Sasha pulled the door open as he approached.  
  
"I really wish you would reconsider." He said as he step out into the hall. The only response he got was the dead bolt snapping into place. He sighed and headed for the stairs.  
  
* * *  
  
The long black limousine pulled to a stop at the curb outside of the nightclub. Darla waited patiently for the driver to open the door. She slid out and adjusted her short white silk dress.  
  
"You've got to be kidding me." She muttered as she looked around at the line of teenagers dressed in black leather and lace.  
  
"Is there a problem?" Charles asked as he exited the vehicle to stand beside her.  
  
"It's a Goth club. How cliché is that?" she asked not hiding her disgust.  
  
"Well if you'd like to go somewhere else." He offered.  
  
"No this will do." She snarled as she walked through the door. Charles sighed and followed behind her. The club was dark. The only illumination coming from the black light fixtures suspended from the ceiling. Darla sauntered past the dance floor, her white dress glowing blue in the lights. She made note of the bodies crushed against each other gyrating to a heavy techno beat. Her gaze fell on a girl at the bar. Long violet hair fell over bare shoulders. Darla started toward her chosen appetizer, when another girl walked up and sat down next to her target.  
  
"Hey Gwen" Sasha sat down next to her friend at the bar.  
  
"Hi, I was starting to think you wouldn't show." Gwen said.  
  
Darla watched the two girls greet each other. Something about the red head sent a shiver down her spine. She turned to scan the crowd for Charles. She spotted him across the dance floor cuddled up with some little Elvira wannabe. Darla rolled her eyes and walked over.  
  
"Take a hike." she snarled as she sat down on the other side of Charles.  
  
"Jeez Darla." He exclaimed as his dinner got up and stalked off towards the dance floor.  
  
"Relax, I found something better." She purred as she slid closer to him. "At the bar." She inclined her in the direction of the two girls.  
  
"Nice." He said as he looked them up and down.  
  
"Not the red head. There's something not quite right about her." Darla said watching the girls.  
  
Sasha felt someone watching her as she sipped her drink. She looked around but didn't see anyone.  
  
"Ms. Coburn, might I have a moment of your time." She heard a familiar british voice ask from behind her. Sasha sighed and whipped around.  
  
"Not you again." She said as she locked eyes with Eric Winchester.  
  
"Friend of your?" Gwen asked as she turned toward Sasha.  
  
"No." Sasha said flatly.  
  
"It's imperative that I speak with you." Eric said.  
  
"I'll be right back Gwen." Sasha sighed as she slid off her stool. He pulled he to one of the many alcoves in the club.  
  
"This better be good." Sasha said, looking defiantly at him.  
  
"This place is crawling with vampires. What do you think your doing coming to a place like this without proper training?" He asked her trying to not raise his voice. Sasha rolled her eyes.  
  
"I'm out with a friend. Now how exactly did you find me?" she asked, eyes narrowing.  
  
Across the club Darla watch the older man walk the red head away.  
  
"Now's are chance" she elbowed Charles in the ribs as she got to her feet and headed to the bar. He stood and followed her like an obedient dog.  
  
Gwen sighed, she glanced around the room wondering were Sasha had gone, when one of the best looking men she'd ever seen sat down to her right. His dark hair was slicked back and his black suit was tailored perfectly. She heard someone slide onto the stool on her left, and she turned to see an attractive blonde woman in a white dressed had taken Sasha's seat. Gwen shrugged, and turned back to the man. He was smiling at her.  
  
"I'm Charles." He said as he offered her his hand.  
  
"Gwen." She said as she took his hand.  
  
Sasha clenched her hands into fists.  
  
"You have to be kidding." She said.  
  
"Just try it, trust me." Eric pleaded with her.  
  
"Fine. I doubt you'll leave me alone until I do." Sasha said as she closed her eyes and concentrated.  
  
"Well?" Eric asked anxiously. "Do you sense any vampires?"  
  
"No." Sasha said. Suddenly her stomach cramped up, her eyes flew open and pointed at the blonde getting up from the bar.  
  
"Her." Sasha said, just as she realized Gwen was headed for the back door with a man who made her stomach clench tighter. "And him" She watched the blonde follow him and Gwen outside.  
  
"Good, very good" Eric congratulated her as she shoved past him and headed for the back door. Sasha kicked the door open and it slammed against the wall with a satisfying whack. She whirled around when she heard footsteps behind her. Eric stood in the door way panting.  
  
"What's wrong?" he asked her.  
  
"Those two people just dragged my best friend out here." She answered. A scream of pure terror echoed up the alley.  
  
"How do I stop them?" Gwen demanded. Lifting Eric off the ground and slamming against the building.  
  
"Stake through the heart." He answered gasping for breath. Sasha turned and grabbed a plank off the ground and rushed towards the scream. Her feet carried her down the grimy alley way fast than she thought possible. As she rounded the last corner she saw the man pinning Gwen against the wall, her face buried in her neck, the woman watching, her face had become a gruesome mask of her former beauty.  
  
"Let her go." Sasha commanded. Darla looked up.  
  
"Well, Well, two for the price of one." She chuckled. "Charles, my turn, you entertain our guest." She shoved him off Gwen. Charles advanced on Sasha his eyes flicking to the stake in her hand. He smiled at her revealing his sharpened fangs. Darla held Gwen and watched Charles and the other girl circle each other. He lunged at Sasha and she dodged to the right, She spun around and aught the back of his head with her foot, He went down hard. Sasha wasted no time driving the stake threw his back, He roared in pain and fell to the ground in a pile of dust. Sasha turned to face Darla.  
  
"Who are you?" Darla demanded.  
  
"I'm the slayer." Sasha said, realizing how corny it sounded.  
  
"Another one?" Darla sighed and backed toward the mouth of the alley, keeping Gwen between her and the slayer. Sasha stepped forward; Darla shoved Gwen at her and fled down the alley. Sasha helped Gwen into a cab and told the drive to take her home. She turned to face Eric.  
  
"Ok so you were right." She said.  
  
"I know." He replied.  
  
"What now?" She asked?  
  
"Have you ever heard of a little town called Sunnydale?  
  
  
  
The End 


End file.
